When it comes to my skin, and what products I decide to use, I can get pretty particular and choosy about it.

You only get one skin and it should be taken well care of!

It’s no surprise that I am a huge fan of Estée Lauder, and just love the way they formulate a product with so many beneficial ingredients and state of the art science behind their products

Here is my regime..

I firstly like to start my regime with a super gentle cleanser which does its job without stripping my skins natural oils.

-Estée Lauder- Perfectly Clean Cream Cleanser

This cleanser is extremely gentle, p.h balanced and includes ingredients to replenish your moisture barrier whilst calming any redness on your skin. The perfect start to a skincare regime! This also doubles as a moisture mask, so when you need that comforting moisture, just put this on and wait 10 minutes before rinsing or wiping off!

-Estée Lauder-Even Skintone Illuminator

This lightweight serum is easily spread across the skin and leaves your skin beautiful and luminous. I love that it evens out your skin tone ready for your moisturiser! It has a high amount of vitamin C, and a wide range of antioxidants and anti irritants, perfect for sensitive skin as well.

-Estée Lauder- Daywear Sheer-tint Release

This moisturiser is my absolute favourite in terms of multitasking and in the prevention of ageing.

Lauder understands in order to
tackle ageing from a young age, we need a wide range of different ingredients which perform different functions to keep us young, and they do it so well! I love the tan this product gives my skin, and it is so sheer it looks invisible, whilst evening out your skintone and giving it a glow!

Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, skin-lightener,
Collagen booster and can even protect the skin from u.v damage!

It is no wonder why this ingredient has gotten so much hype over the years and has been used in countless amounts of products on the shelves.

But how much vitamin c will actually make a difference in my skin?

Well it depends what exactly you are wanting to get out of using vitamin c. If you are wanting skin lightening properties, vitamin c needs to be at a concentration of 2% , and only some forms of vitamin c will function as a skin lightening ingredient.

The problem when searching for a vitamin c product is that we don’t understand where vitamin c stands in a serums formula , the most common form of vitamin c would be “ascorbic acid” if you see this ingredient at the top of the list, that is great! If you see it at the end (after preservatives) don’t even bother!

I have put together a few of my favourite “C” superstars !

Keeping in mind; these are not in order of vitamin c concentration but picked for its overall formula!

Enjoy

3. Dermalogica- MAP-15 Regenerator

I am not usually one for gimmicky like products that look cool to use but “don’t perform”. In this case it’s an exception! Yes this product goes from powder to liquid in a cute mini dispenser, but it also delivers ALOT of vitamin c into the skin , and is “magnesium ascorbyl phosphate” which has lots of research to perform well! This can be mixed with your favourite product or worn alone!

2. Kieh’s- Powerful Strength Line Reducing Concentrate

I LOVE this product! It contains a very high amount of vitamin c, and the reliable kind as well (ascorbic acid). This formula is simple which is great for sensitive skin as you are less likely to be allergic to any of the ingredients. This is silky and works great under your moisturiser !

1. Estée Lauder- Even Skintone Illuminator

This is my favourite multi tasking serum! This provides a high amount of vitamin c and a wide cocktail of antioxidants and anti irritants to prevent more sun spots from forming! This will effectively diminish discolourations, reduce redness, prevent against oxidation and it also has a slight shimmer to it to make your face more luminous! This is also oil free and works great under your moisturiser.
I am smitten over this serum!

If there is a skin concern that most people deal with and can’t stand the thought of .. It would have to be oily skin, and trying to keep that oil under control as the day goes on!

Yes you could continue to use powder and blotting papers all day, but all that make up will build up and start to look a little too much and possibly might break you out as well.

What if I told you, you could just start your day right and not have to retouch later ?

There are definitely some thing’s you can do to prevent a day full of excess oil and slippery make up.

Here they are 🙂

-Gentle Cleansing-

using a gentle but EFFECTIVE cleanser is such an important step for an oily skin.
Did you know if you are rubbing your face too much you are stimulating more oil ? And if your using products which are stripping your skin dry (alcohol) that you are making your skin produce even MORE oil as a natural protection mechanism?
Find cleansers with non detergent agents, sodium laureth sulfate is not the best choice but is passable for an excessively oily skin as it isn’t as bad as its made out to be and is safe (despite all the media bagging it out)

–Add a toner

A toner is such a handy step to reducing excess oil when wanting a clean start to the day.
Alcohol isn’t the only option for an oily skin, the products p.h can be adjusted with other ingredients which are safer and don’t cause free radical damage (Clays work well!). Look for toners with vitamin A and other beneficial ingredients as these ingredients works wonders in controlling oil flow for the skin.

-Keep it light

Use an oil free lotion like moisturiser which leaves no residue and sinks in very quickly.

Anti irritants such as green tea, oatmeal, chamomile , licorice root work wonders on an acneic skin to reduce redness and prevent more oil from being produced.

So next time you want to strip your face bare of all it’s oil.. Think again.

Something I find quite often when I look at a toners formula is that they are very cheap when it comes to a good amount of ingredients , and after all, you don’t want to pay 30 to 40 dollars for a bottle of water and some glitter in it.. Right ?

So here are some things to look for in a toner !

-antioxidants are a must! And there should be lots if you are going to tone at all
-avoid alcohol as the 1st or second ingredient (mostly alcohol denat)
-look for skin identical ingredients such as glycerin , or cholesterol for better value
-make sure it suits YOUR skin type so it balances your skins oil flow/dryness evenly.
-an exfoliating toner (a.h.a or b.h.a) can be a great addition to an oily skins regime

So whether you need a toner in your regime is really up to , and whether your skin needs something extra or you need to refine more oil after cleansing!

Choose wisely and if it smells like last weekends bottle of vodka … Don’t use it!